Turbosupercharging

Turbosupercharging is the term used to describe the use of a turbine-driven device to "supercharge," or increase the pressure of, the air entering an engine. Today's current language uses the term "supercharger" to describe an engine driven device and "turbocharger" to describe an exhaust driven one. The literature from the World War 2 period does not make this distinction. Engine-driven superchargers were called just "superchargers" (often "geared superchargers" because they were usually driven by gears, not belts as in most automotive uses). What we today call a "turbocharger" was then called a "turbosupercharger" because it relied on the use of an exhaust gas turbine to power the compressor.

The goal of this system was to allow the sea level horsepower rating to be achieved at high altitudes.

Some might also use the term "turbosupercharging" to refer to the practice of using both an engine-driven and an exhaust-driven supercharger to feed the same engine, although this usage seems to have been introduced long after the invention of the system itself.

References

*cite web|url=http://rwebs.net/avhistory/opsman/geturbo/geturbo.htm|title=The Turbosupercharger and the Airplane Powerplant.